As many of you know, my dad has been through a pretty serious episode resulting in an emergency trip to the hospital.  He remains in the hospital but has made some good progress thus far.  Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

One event that occurred along the way in this journey was when a woman from mom and dad’s church visited dad and, while there, offered to my mom to get some of the families in the church to bring some meals to the house.  My mother graciously—and somewhat typically—declined, saying it wasn’t necessary because she had “just been to the grocery store.”  Which was true.  In fact, the very evening my father collapsed at home they had just returned from the grocery store.  So, this woman, whose name is Daisy, made the offer, heard mom’s polite “no thanks” and then stopped by the waiting room where several family members, including myself, were waiting for our “turn” to visit dad’s room.  We visited with Daisy for a moment during which she shared the offer to have some meals brought in and mom’s turning down her offer.  I didn’t think of it at that time, but later I thought, “We should let them do it.”  So, without seeking mom’s permission and knowingly going against her expressed wishes—which, by the way, is the first time I’ve ever done that—I called Daisy and invited her to go ahead and recruit some meal preparers.  In talking with Daisy, I explained my thoughts that led to me calling her back.  Number one, when people are going through a crisis, they shouldn’t have to bother about such things as meal preparation—even if they’ve “just been to the grocery store.”  And second, when people are willing and able to pitch in and help, to serve someone else in some fashion, we ought to let them do it.  We ought to let them exercise “servant leadership.”  We ought to let them do it because it brings them a sense of fulfillment—of doing something good and, more importantly, doing what they feel God is calling them to do—and because it brings delight to God’s heart.

In some ways, that is what’s happening in today’s section of Nehemiah’s story.  My family’s need for meal preparation may not be as severe a crisis as Nehemiah’s situation—although it certainly feels like it when you’re in that moment, doesn’t it—but I think similar principles apply.  Some of the Israelites are in a crisis situation and they come to Nehemiah with their concerns.  And the solution lies in those who are able to do so responding to the needs of those in crisis.

To begin with, apparently people weren’t being compensated for their work on building the wall of Jerusalem.  This was creating a hardship for three groups of people.

First, there were people who didn’t own any land—land ownership being the primary gauge of wealth at that time.  These people had to work hard every day just to get by.  Committing time and energy to building the wall without compensation for their work was putting the squeeze on.

The second group of people were landowners, but just barely.  They had been forced to put their land up as collateral on loans in order to get by.  Again, working on the wall was taking time and energy away from other work needing to be done to meet their needs.

The third group of families was being pressed in the same way.  Their issue, however, was a tax on their land that needed to be paid to the king of the country ruling over the area.  This “royal tribute” allowed them to stay on their land.  Failure to pay it and they would lose the land.  Committing needed resources of time and energy to building the wall had put them in danger of that happening.

To his credit, Nehemiah listens to their concerns and takes steps to correct the problem.  We’re not told specifically that one solution is to excuse them from building the wall, but one can well imagine Nehemiah allowing for that.  The action Nehemiah does take eases the pressure on these families but doesn’t remove their need to focus their time and energy on their paid labor in order to get by.  One can well imagine they are excused from building the wall because they are not able to do so.  What we are told Nehemiah does is to call upon those who aren’t in these crisis situations to do all they can to eliminate the concerns of these people, while insuring at the same time that the wall gets built.

Once again, we learn from Nehemiah some important vision for undertaking any kind of project.

First of all, the primary goal in whatever project we undertake—whether remodeling within the church or at home—is to glorify God.  There are lots of goals within any project—comfort, safety, security—but the primary goal is to glorify God.  And the primary motivation for that goal is reverence for God.  Nehemiah speaks of it in terms of “fear of our God,” but it means much more than the negative impression that one better act on something or else face the wrath of God.  The Old Testament “fear of the Lord” also carried a more positive meaning of reverence or respect for God.  The apostle Paul puts this motivation this way in his letter to the Colossians, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for humans, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.  It is the Lord Christ you are serving,” (Colossians 3:23, 24).  Our primary goal in any project is to glorify the Lord and our primary motivation in participating in that project comes out of respect or reverence for the Lord.  “It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

Nehemiah also understood that the wall they were building carried more than pragmatic implications.  To be sure, the pragmatic issue of safety and security for Jerusalem from their enemies is an important consideration in building the wall.  However, Nehemiah is moved to action more by the witness to the community of the glory of God revealed in the return of God’s people to Jerusalem.  At stake in their building project is much more than their physical safety from their enemies.  The future of their faith and their witness to those around them who do not fear the Lord are also at stake.  Walking “in fear of our God to avoid the reproach of our Gentile enemies” is how Nehemiah expresses this motivation.

In our own remodeling project, pragmatic considerations include being warm in the winter and cool in the summer in our worship services; better lighting to enhance our worship experience; an attractive, welcoming environment when we come to church.  Those are important considerations.  But they are not primary.  Our primary consideration is how we might glorify God in the work that is to continue in this church known as Shepherd of the Hills Presbyterian Church.  How might our worship of God continue?  How might we witness to the community by what we say and do out of reverence for our God?  That is the primary motivation in our considering our participation in the current capital campaign—reverence for God—and how that might get revealed to the community around us.

This weekend, I was watching some of the golf tournament on TV and saw a promotion for the PGA Tour.  The basic idea was this—various places around the world were watching a golf tournament.  Some of the viewers included astronauts in space watching golf on the TV monitors in their spacecraft.  The tag line to the commercial was this: “The world is watching.”  A bit hyperbolic for golf, don’t you think?  Perhaps it is also hyperbole to say about Nehemiah’s building of the wall in Jerusalem or our own renovations at Shepherd of the Hills that “the world is watching.”  But, we can say the community is watching.  Oh, not with the selfish interest of Sanballat, Tobiah and the other enemies of Jerusalem who want power and control over the Jews.  But, the community around Shepherd of the Hills is watching, or certainly is an observer to what we do here, a potential recipient of the ministry and mission that takes place in and through this church.  Will our reverence for God be revealed in it?

If bringing glory to God is Nehemiah’s primary goal in his building project and reverence for God is a primary motivation, one primary method Nehemiah seeks to implement in his campaign is to not place any oppressive burden upon the people.  Responding to those who are facing a crisis in the midst of the building project, Nehemiah turns to those who are not in such a situation and calls upon them to take action in solving the problem.  Some of the leaders in the community—the “nobles and officials” addressed by Nehemiah—are contributing to the crisis by placing financial burdens upon those groups that came to Nehemiah with their concerns.  Some of the nobles and officials are the lien holders in the mortgages and loans given to the people.  In fact, Nehemiah is one of them!  In verse 10, he admits “I and my brothers and my men are also lending the people money and grain.”  He is not just pointing to others in his accusation.  He is speaking to himself as well as to others when he calls upon them to stop what they are doing.  He asks of those who are able to put generosity over personal gain.

The situation in Nehemiah’s time isn’t completely analogous to ours.  However, I think the gist of the message from Nehemiah’s situation to ours is this: For our “A Time to Build Up” campaign to succeed “those who are able” must step up for “those who are not” to see that the work is completed.  Some among us are not able to be a part of the campaign because they face similar situations to those who came to Nehemiah.  It takes all their time and energy to make it from paycheck to paycheck.  We’re not looking to place undue burden upon anyone in order to complete this project.  In God’s economy, those who are able are to step up for those who are not.

Another group not able to be a part of this campaign is those who are not yet here.  Many of us were not here in the campaign of 1970 that built this sanctuary, or the campaign of 1993 that built the entrance area.  Yet, we enjoy it today because of the commitment of those who were able at that time to contribute to the work to be done.  The vision for the builders of the wall of Jerusalem included those in the future who would work and worship within the wall’s protection and security.  Included in our vision for this campaign are those to come, those not yet here who, consequently, are not able to contribute to this campaign but will be the beneficiaries of it.

So, Nehemiah once again points us to the kind of vision needed in a building campaign, really to whatever task we, as people of faith, might undertake, whether that be within the church or outside the church.  Certainly, it is a vision for our current “A Time to Build Up” campaign.  It is a vision that has as its primary goal bringing glory to God—both within the faith community and to those outside that community—by acting out of reverence for God.  It is a vision that includes close examination of our specific role in the building campaign, an honest assessment of and corresponding response to our ability to be a part of the campaign so that not only we enjoy the benefit of it, but others will too.  And to God be the glory.